Carving-fork guard



(ModeL) S. S. WARD.

' OARVING FORK GUARD. 7

No. 279.056. Patented June 5,1883.

INV'ENTOB WITNESSES ,& jaymo o/w BY ATTORNEYS.

' UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

srnrnnn S. WARD, or cnnnivrmtn, MASSACHUSETTS.

CA'RVlNG-FORK GUARD.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 279,056, dated June 5, 1883,

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, STEPHEN S. XVARD, of Greenfield, in the county of Franklin and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Guards for Carving-Forks, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

In my improved construction of guards for carving-forks the principal advantages sought over those heretofore made are greater facility and cheapness in manufacture with less hand-labor, with the result of a better working article, facility of adjustment and removal, simplicity, and durability.

The invention consists in a guard having a bent tongue or stirrup which is engaged by a slotted spring attached to the shank of the fork, as hereinafter described and claimed.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure l is a side view of a fork fitted with my improved guard. Fig. 2 'is a plan view of the fork with the guard removed. Fig. 3 is a face view of the guard-piece. Fig. 4 is a longitudinalsection of the same. Figs. 5 and 6 represent modifications in the construction.

A is the guard-piece, which may be of any suitable shape or size, and is made with forked ends a a, to stride the neck or shank of the fork 13. Between the forks a of the guard is formed a tongue or stirrup, i, the outer end of which has side lugs or projections, 2", above which the stirrup is bent at right angles, or nearly so.

G is the retaining device, consisting of a plate of spring metal attached to the fork B by a rivet or screw, 6, at one end, and formed at its outer end with a slot, 0, that receives the tongue or stirrup z 011 the guard A, with its side lugs, 2 upon which the sides of the slot 0 take or rest, so that the guard is held in place by the spring. In order to attach the guard, the end of the spring is slightly raised and the side lugs, z", of the stirrups c' are slipped under, the body of the stirrup or tongue at the same time entering the slot in the spring. In this manner the tongue on the guard .is engaged by the forked end of the Application filed September 27, 1882. (ModeL) ency to fall forward, as is the case with forkguards as usually made. The spring 0 may be made of any suitable shape, and attached by any suitable means, and in place of an open slot, 0, as shown, the spring'may be simply apert ured, in which case the stirrup or tongue i is tobe inserted before the spring is attached to the fork, the lugs i being at right angles to the spring. The slot in this case should be longer than it is wide, to allow the entry of the tongue 2 and its retention when revolved to bring the lugs beneath the edges of the slot. The neck or shank of the fork may be provided with an aperture or slot, as shown at Z in Fig. 5, and the stirrup or tongue passed through this slot, the spring 0 being in that case attached to the under side of the fork for engaging the tongue, as shown. In this latter construction of the fork-guard the tongue m may be left upon'the end of the stirrup i below the lugs i, as shown in Fig. 6 5 and in order to permit the passage of the lugs 2' through the slot in the fork-Shank, the slot being narrower than the lugs are long, the arms a a of the guard may be caused to stand sufficiently outward from the tongue or stirl rup i to enable the guard to stride the forkshank obliquely to such an extent that the lugs may be caused to pass through said slot and occupy a plane below the fork-shank, after which the guard is turned to bring the lugs of the tongue at right angles to the fork-shank and spring.

Having thus fully described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. In carving-forks, the combination, with the bifurcated guard A,' provided with the tongue or stirrup' z', having the lugsi, of the spring 0, secured to the fork at one end, and

provided at its outer end with a slot which receives the tongue or stirrup i of the guard A, substantially as shown and described, and 5 for the purpose set forth.

2. The combination of the spring 0, at-

tached to the fork B and having its outer end slotted and slightly depressed, with the bifurcated guard A; having the tongue or stirrup i,formed with-side lugs and having a bend 10 above the lugs substantially as shown and described.

$TEPHEN SELBY XVARD. XVitnesses:

\VM. LOMBARD, it E. S. ELLIOT. 

